Hey guys I’ve finally been playing long enough to get into the mid-game and I’m trying to protect some of my longer supply routes. My thought was I could lay minefields at the jump gates along a particular 5 system route between populations. The idea being it could at least provide early warning and let me figure out where the aliens are coming from. The issue I’m having is my mines don’t seem to activate. I’ve never used mines before, so maybe I’m missing something fundamental.
The AS mine is:
Missile Size: 5.86 MSP (14.650 Tons) Warhead: 0 Radiation Damage: 0
Speed: 0 km/s Fuel: 250 1st Stage Flight Time: 1 seconds 1st Stage Range: 0k km
2nd Stage Flight Time: 71 seconds 2nd Stage Range: 1,865.7k km
Active Sensor Strength: 0.9 EM Sensitivity Modifier: 14
Resolution: 1 Maximum Range vs 50 ton object (or larger): 2,002,672 km
Cost Per Missile: 12.04 Development Cost: 548
Second Stage: Buck Shot Stage II x1
Second Stage Separation Range: 150,000 km
In 3.0 will be changed, however, in current 2.7.1 you need a trigger and a payload. You have to run some try, as I haven’t used mines in a while, however, I think to remember you don’t need fuel in the first stage and it will work similar to a buoy. Once that is activated with an enemy in range, it will release the payload. Both trigger and Payload require AS modules to work.
So I have been playing with the designs. One thing I noticed is to watch out for fractional Active Sensors as you still need 1 full strength of AS. I did get the mines to work when I had the target designated with my MFC. So it seems the stages work but aren’t being triggered when they are left alone. I’m wondering if the Enemy ECM or Jammers prevent the mines from working independently.
The way to get mines to work in this version is to make them like you usually would, two stages both with sensors, but give the first stage (the stationary stage) a bit of fuel and engine. They’ll have a limited time before they destroy themselves, but will successfully target and attack hostile ships.